The War of the Raven
by methodic madness
Summary: [princess tutu] The story before the story of Princess Tutu: the story of Prince Mythos's battle against the Monster Raven.


Author's Note: Hello, and welcome to my fic! To give you a quick idea, this story is about the events that occurred before the anime Princess Tutu begins, and tells the story of Mythos's fight against the Monster Raven, back when they were still just characters in Drosselmeyer's book. I don't think this idea has been done before, and I hope you like it.  
  
Oh, and as far as characters – this prologue only has original characters. But don't worry, Mute and Fakia will show up in the first chapter. For Princess Claire fans - sorry, but she won't be in this fic. I'm still debating whether Tutu will show up or not. Either way, I hope you still read and enjoy it!  
  
WARNING: While this is a Princess Tutu fanfiction, it is also meant to be a war story. There is going to be some violence and even death in this fic, starting right here with the prologue. Just wanted to give you some advance warning. Also this fic contains spoilers for the first season (episodes 1-13) of the anime.

Oh, and before I forget, the DISCLAIMER: Princess Tutu does not belong to me. I am not nearly imaginative enough to come up with something so zany and wonderful. Instead it belongs to it's creator, Ikuko Ito, and a lot of people at the production company whose names I do not know.  
  
And now, without further ado, I give you...

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** The War of the Raven  
** A Princess Tutu fanfiction  
  
**Prologue – Shattered Idyll**  
  
A lone black bird circled the sky over a sunlit field, just outside the village of Seylan. Ten-year-old Suli paused in her flower-picking to watch it soar overhead, wheeling and dipping through the air as the sun glinted off of its ebony feathers. _How pretty..._she thought. _I wish I had wings to fly like that. It looks like so much fun...  
_  
"Suli! Hey, Suli!" Her cousin's voice broke into her thoughts. "We need to hurry up and finish picking these flowers. It's almost sundown, and the wedding's tomorrow!"  
  
Suli looked up, brushing a stray lock of gray-blonde hair out of her eyes, and saw her older cousin Mara standing a short distance away, the basket in her arms nearly filled with large white daisies and smaller lavender wildflowers.  
  
"Mara!" Suli called back, pointing up at the sky. "Look at that pretty bird up th--Oh." The bird was no longer in sight. _It must have flown off somewhere_, she thought. _Too bad Mara didn't get to see it... _"Hehe, never mind, Mara. Sorry!"  
  
Mara smiled back indulgently at the younger girl. Despite the nearly five year difference in their ages, she and Suli had practically grown up at each other's houses, and were as close as true sisters. "It's alright, Suli. Anyway, I think I found enough of the purple flowers for Aunt Lise's tiara, so just look for more daisies now."  
  
No longer distracted by the bird, Suli nodded and focused on the task at hand. Their Aunt Lisette was getting married the next day, and the two girls had been assigned the task of gathering flowers for the wedding. Suli was excited; she had never been to a wedding before, and Aunt Lise' had chosen her – _her!_ – to be the flower girl. Maybe, if she were lucky, she'd even get to catch the bouquet and be a bride herself soon. The thought brought a grin to her face, and she nearly skipped her way over to another patch of flowers, daydreaming about her own wedding to some handsome prince or dashing knight-in-shining-armor.  
  
She quietly hummed a traditional wedding march under her breath as she made her way across the field. Reaching an area carpeted with blossoms, Suli brushed some stray hair from her face and knelt to get a better look at one of the large white daisies that grew all around Seylan village. She made sure every flower she picked was perfect, without any insect-bitten petals or dark spots – there would be nothing but the best for her favorite aunt's wedding day.  
  
As she examined the flowers, she noticed a shadow fall across the ground in front of her. _A cloud? Oh, I hope it doesn't rain today. Or tomorrow!_ Suli paused for a second, puzzled. She was sure there hadn't been any clouds in the sky when the girls had left the village. Curious, she looked up, only to see a dark, fast-moving cloud race past the sun and make its way across the sky. Even as she marveled at its speed, the cloud suddenly veered and descended down towards the field, broadening as it drew closer.  
  
Suli watched as the "cloud" continued to fan out, resolving from a dark hazy blur into multiple individual black dots. As they drew closer, the shapes became more distinct, until Suli could make out a flock of almost a hundred black birds similar to the one she had seen earlier flying in her direction. Entranced, she gazed as they swept through the air, turning as one in large, lazy circles. _How do they all know when to turn like that?_ She was so caught up in the birds' synchronized movements that she didn't notice the daisy held loosely in her hand fall to the ground, or Mara's sudden alarmed call: "Suli! We have to go, now!" She kept on watching as the birds split into two groups, one continuing to make wide zig-zags through the air at about tree level, while the other turned and started flying almost straight up. _Hmm, I wonder what they're doing...  
_  
Unexpectedly, almost faster than Suli's eye could follow, the second group of birds switched direction, diving back down towards the earth at breakneck speed. A high-pitched scream off to her left caught Suli's attention, _where she had last seen Mara standing_ she abruptly realized, and she whirled, just in time to see the birds hurtle through the air and plow into her cousin. Mara twisted, trying to get out of their way, but to no avail. She took a few staggering steps back as the birds hit her, then lost her balance and fell heavily to the earth. The birds swirled around the place where she landed, until Mara was hidden from Suli's sight beneath a sea of fluttering black wings.  
  
"MARA!"  
  
Suli dropped her basket and raced across the field towards Mara. She still couldn't see the other girl through the throng of birds whirling around her, but she could hear her shrieking in fear and pain, almost drowned out by the harsh cawing that reverberated through the air. "Mara! Mara, I'm coming! Are you alright?"  
  
She got no answer as she ran across the field, until a sudden movement from within the whirlwind of birds brought her up short. As she watched, a basket arced through the air, knocking several of the birds aside and sending up a spray of white and lavender petals, and suddenly Suli could hear her, hear Mara shouting again, not in fear this time, but in anger and defiance. The basket swung back the other way and knocked more birds aside. "GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU FILTHY RAVENS!"  
  
_Ravens?_ Suli thought. The word floated through her mind, vaguely familiar, but she had no time to pursue the thought. Before her eyes the basket continued to swing back and forth through the mob of birds, until Mara herself became visible through the crowd.  
  
Suli froze in shock upon seeing her cousin. Mara's clothes were torn, and blood welled from talon-marks covering her arms and legs. A larger, deeper gash ran from her forehead to her cheek, just barely missing her eye, and her lower lip was bleeding from an equally deep cut. She was putting no weight on one ankle, and her balance wavered. As Suli watched, two ravens dived to attack and Mara threw out an arm in defense. The ravens' claws raked across the back of her hand, leaving a new set of angry red slashes. Mara kept swinging her flower basket, knocking some birds away, but overall succeeding only in making the ravens circle further away from her before they attacked again.  
  
Shaking herself out of her shocked state, Suli picked up a fallen branch and started forward again, holding it out in front of her. "Mara! I'll help you!"  
  
"Suli! Run! Get out of here!" Mara yelled back. Suli hesitated. _She can't be serious...  
  
_ "Suli, I said get away from here. Now!" Mara shouted, fruitlessly trying to dodge as many of the swooping birds as she could. One landed on her left shoulder and cocked its head, seeming to study her for a moment. Mara paused as well, hoping that since it was staying so still, this bird wasn't going to attack her. The bird regarded her for a second more, then suddenly stretched out its neck and took hold of the thin gold hoop in Mara's left ear firmly in its beak. With a flap of its ebony wings, the bird lifted back into the air, and with one, two sharp jerks of its head, ripped the earring free. Mara shrieked, letting go of her basket and clapping both hands over her ear. She dropped to her knees, crying out with the pain. Without the threat of the basket, the rest of the ravens closed in again.  
  
Suli nearly fell to her knees herself, feeling sick to her stomach, her heart pounding frantically. _I have to help Mara._ Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself on her feet, then came forward again with her branch, swinging it at the bird that had torn away Mara's earring. The last thing she expected was for Mara to climb to her feet and shove her away violently. "Suli, I said GO!"  
  
"But...but Mara..."  
  
"Suli, you have to go!" Mara tried to duck from another pair of birds. "Go back to the vill—"A hiss of pain as one of the birds hit. "village and warn them. Tell them the ravens are back!"  
  
Ravens. There was that word again. Suli had heard of them, of course, had heard vague stories about the monsters that had terrorized the country years before she was ever born. It was something the adults talked about in whispers, always stopping whenever Suli or any other young children were within hearing range.  
  
"I'm not going," she said, shocked and angry that her cousin would ask this of her. "I'm not leaving you here by yourself!"  
  
"SULIRA! You get back to Seylan _right now_ and warn everyone that the ravens are back, _before the whole town is killed!_ GO!"  
  
Suli had never heard her normally soft-spoken cousin be so forceful before. Between the command in Mara's voice and the threat to the village, Suli actually turned and took a couple steps away before catching herself and stopping. She looked to her cousin, then in the direction of the village, unsure of what to do. She turned back to Mara. Her cousin had again fallen to her knees, nearly exhausted from the raven attacks and the pain from her wounds. She had acquired several more deep gashes on her face and arms, and it looked like at some point another raven had made a try for her right earring, though unsuccessfully. She looked up at Suli with weary, pleading eyes. "Please, Suli, go. _Please_," she begged.  
  
Tears forming in her eyes, Suli nodded. "I'll send the first people I see to help you, I promise. I'll warn everyone, then I'll come back as fast as I can. I promise!"  
  
"Okay, Suli. Now go," Mara said softly.  
  
"I promise I'll be back," Suli repeated, then turned and ran in the direction of the village as fast as she could. She only looked back once, as she reached the edge of the field. She couldn't see Mara anymore, just a cluster of ravens hopping and picking at something on the ground. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Suli turned away and ran down the hill and through the town gates into Seylan.

End prologue

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Well, what did you think? I know it's a little different from most Tutu fics out there, but I hope you liked it. And don't fear, our beloved, familiar characters will make their appearances starting in the next chapter!

MM


End file.
